Compare and Contrast Two Theories of Leadership. Do These Theories Offer Practical Guidance for Managers? Essay Example
Compare and contrast two theories of leadership. Do these theories offer practical guidance for managers?
Practice in management There has been a long debate about the functions of leadership and management. Kotter (1990) argued the goal of leadership is to pursue the adaptive and constructive changes and the purpose of management is to acquire stability and consistency. In addition, he suggested that the process of leadership is to influence others and management is to maintain operations and accomplish goals. As was mentioned earlier, the trait theory contains highly subjective perspectives. It means that the perception of leadership traits is associated with the assessment of leadership. Barry et al (2003) conducted an investigation which yielded that the majority of interviewees viewed leaders as being honest, competent, credible, forward-looking and inspiring. It can be inferred that when managers are under the evaluation of leadership performances these traits are likely to be the criteria adopted by subordinates or higher supervisors. As a manager, it is imperative to understand the demands of other individuals and followers in order to maintain the effectiveness and improve the weaknesses, Extensive research on the trait theory has shown that behaviors are crucial feature of leaders as well. Flanagin et al (2003) pointed out that credibility is the essence of leadership and the foundation on which leaders can be able to create their vision and followers can build security toward leaders. They also proposed five measures to examine the practices of leaders by their actions: challenging the process, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others, modeling the way and encouraging the heart. Those beliefs augment the typical images of leadership and incorporate the new elements of leader-follower interactions into this approach. With the fully understanding of expectations held by stakeholders managers might be able to enact and implement
Practice in management There has been a long debate about the functions of leadership and management. Kotter (1990) argued the goal of leadership is to pursue the adaptive and constructive changes and the purpose of management is to acquire stability and consistency. In addition, he suggested that the process of leadership is to influence others and management is to maintain operations and accomplish goals. As was mentioned earlier, the trait theory contains highly subjective perspectives. It means that the perception of leadership traits is associated with the assessment of leadership. Barry et al (2003) conducted an investigation which yielded that the majority of interviewees viewed leaders as being honest, competent, credible, forward-looking and inspiring. It can be inferred that when managers are under the evaluation of leadership performances these traits are likely to be the criteria adopted by subordinates or higher supervisors. As a manager, it is imperative to understand the demands of other individuals and followers in order to maintain the effectiveness and improve the weaknesses, Extensive research on the trait theory has shown that behaviors are crucial feature of leaders as well. Flanagin et al (2003) pointed out that credibility is the essence of leadership and the foundation on which leaders can be able to create their vision and followers can build security toward leaders. They also proposed five measures to examine the practices of leaders by their actions: challenging the process, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others, modeling the way and encouraging the heart. Those beliefs augment the typical images of leadership and incorporate the new elements of leader-follower interactions into this approach. With the fully understanding of expectations held by stakeholders managers might be able to enact and implement